Lightning, arc welders, stamping presses, electric furnace
heaters and so on, create surges and transients on your equipment's power
and signal lines. Surge voltages stress electrical components and result
in early equipment failure. Some application sites experience constant equipment
failure without a clue of where the problem is derived from. Many problems
sites can correlate the equipment failures to a storm passing through. What
they cannot do is determine if a surge occurred on their power lines, 4-20mA
signals or network signals. All they know is that they have another rack
of equipment that needs to be replaced. This is a good thing for sales people
unless the customer starts pointing fingers at his/her supplier and starts
shopping around for another vendor.
M-System's MAA/MAAC and MDM2A surge suppressors with surge occurrence indication
is the key to helping your customer determine if their AC power, pulse or
4-20mA signal is experiencing an electrical surge. These two M-System products
act as application watchdogs, indicating an over voltage condition occurred
at the site. Over voltage transients and surges account for a good percentage
of equipment failures. Surge suppressors are most effective when mounted
adjacent to the problematic electrical equipment they are protecting. It
goes without saying, but without a good earth ground connection for our
surge suppressors, their effectiveness, is severely limited. The MAA/MAAC
and MDM2A LED surge indicator illuminates when the surge suppressor element
is activated to shunt hazardous voltages away from the protected equipment.
Taking advantage of this LED indication for a surge occurrence, our customers
are able to conclude three things; 1) Yes a surge occurred 2) The surge
occurred on the signal or the power line and 3) They have a much better
idea of where to concentrate their diagnostic and solution efforts.
Once the surge entry point is determined, the customer can review their
wiring practices, grounding methods, and potential source of the surge by
following the wiring path. If you want to develop a good relationship with
a customer, then help them solve this specific type of problem. The success
in one site almost always leads to additional orders for other equipment
and plant locations. The MAA/MAAC and MDM2A models are more expensive than
standard surge equipment, but it takes the guesswork out of knowing what
may have happened and where. Once surge path is established, lower cost
units can then be substituted for protection. I recommend quoting surge
suppressors as accessory items to other equipment. We continue to receive
orders as a result of recommending this accessory. |
